Perfect Day in the Backcountry in Banff National Park

What a day! Close to perfect weather, hungry brookies caught just on chernobyls and our hiking legs did us well! The 22 km of hiking was the tax we had to pay to enjoy brook trout fly fishing at it's best! We left the house at 5 am and by 8 am we were hiking to our destination. It is a hike we love. Some of the hike is a bit of grind but we were ready! After 2 hours of hiking we topped out over a mountain pass and there was our destination. We were greeted by marmots, pikas, loons, osprey, tamarack and a lake teaming with brookies. We were fly fishing by 10:30 am. We both tied on a chernobyl and the beautifully coloured brookies slammed our offering. 

Karen and I layered up after being sweaty from the trip up the mountain pass. It was a cool 5C when we left the car and I suspect the mercury climbed to about 18C during the day! The wind even behaved itself! We talked to some hikers who were in the valley the day before. They had experienced severe thunderstorms and it was not a very pleasant day! Mountain weather can be quite nasty at times.

Well after close to 6 hours of excellent fly fishing, we headed back to the car! Our feet felt a bit heavier but the 11km hike back to the car was all downhill. We grabbed a bit to eat in Canmore. Our trip home included dodging a severe thunderstorm that was rolling off of the eastern slopes. We used weather radar to skirt the storm. We were rewarded with an amazing display of rainbows and lightening. We got home at 10 ish. What a fabulous day. The sweat equity was well worth it!

 

Stocking Up on Backswimmers

It will not be long until boatmen and backswimmers become a a main meal for our trout! I have seen this activity on the water starting in late August. I decided a few days ago to stock up. There are so many excellent patterns out there! Most are not that difficult to tie although Jennings Ultimate Boatmen "type" patterns are a bit more challenging!

 

High, Fast and Off Colour, ...Break Out the Streamers!

...from Alberta Basins

A rainy summer had definitely added water to our ecosystem but it is making fly fishing challenging. Many of our lakes have high water temperatures and many of the rivers are flowing high, muddy and fast. You definitely can fly fish the Red Deer River with streamers. Big streamers that push water. Bow River buggers, Sex Dungeons, etc are great choices. I like using dark ones. Cast right to the banks and you will definitely have a chance at a hook up! Use a sink tip line! Looks like a typical weather cycle unlike last year. I hope the water table is rising.

I just got in from a bike ride and the Red Deer River in town is close to no visibility. Ironically, I did see a fly fisherman catching goldeye in town with streamers. The fish will move close to the banks to get out of the fast current!

Be sure to check Alberta Basins if you are fly fishing rivers. It will definitely help you decide where to go fly fishing!

...from Environment Canada

 

Camping at Rainy Fish Lake in Nordegg, ... the Fly Fishing Was Excellent

Camping at Fish Lake in Nordegg is way more than a fly fishing trip. I would say that fly fishing is secondary to having a great time with family and friends. ...and we did just that! The weather was quite unsettled but that did not slow us down. Hiking, fly fishing, playing with our grandson, and just plain having a great time is the order of the day!

The fly fishing at Fish Lake is always good! I am so amazed at how many troll for hours without a bite. Certainly trolling can be quite successful. I suspect an intermediate line and a pumpkinhead would get you lots of takes!Once you figure out the depth then it is game on! We did have breaks from the showers and we used those breaks to get out on the water. The rainbows are plentiful and you can catch several 12-13 inch rainbows in a few hours. Most of the rainbows are 9-10 inchers.

Our best success was fishing 9 feet down along a weed line and in a bay that was out of the wind.

The water quality at Fish Lake is excellent and the water temperature was surprisingly low for this time of the year! The lake level is right up there with all of the rain run off!

We used my tried and true Bubba Gump Shrimp, balanced sizes 16 and14. 

The bird life on the lake is so amazing. Sandhill cranes, great blue herons, osprey, loons and eagles can be seen every day!They can quite enjoyable to photograph and just plain watch! The osprey are constantly fishing. There were times when we saw 6 or 7 at a time dive bombing for their next meal!

I hope you are enjoying summer. It feels like it is going way too fast!

Blue sky, quick lets go! 15 minutes later, the stormy weather is back!

9 feet down should do it!

So many showers rolled through! It was sweater and jacket weather!

The real fishermen are the osprey!

Frogs!

Almost ready grandpa!

To be a kid again!

Herons are nesting along the lake!

Warm air spilling over the eastern slopes! We had one warm day but lots of heavy wind!

Learning to drive the pram!

Great Blue Herons are spectacular to watch!

...for Ozzy!

Any resemblance?

 

Tequila Blobs for the Backcountry

Tequila Blobs can be so effective. For some reason, this colour combination is very appealing to certain trout! Karen and I are heading to the backcountry soon and we will be sure to have a handful of blobs (and chernobyls). We were both surprised at how effective they were in the mountain lakes. Give Bob Edens a call ( 403-304- 8362) if you need daphnia fritz or slush jelly to make them or order from Canadian Llama Company.

I like to wet the materials before I wrap them on either a wide gap nymph hook or a jig hook!

I hope this long stretch of rain makes its way out of the mountains. We do need lots of moisture but we need some sunshine too!

Wet the materials before wrapping!